LAUSR

Abstract The efficiency of indigenous bacteria to remove colour, TDS and COD pollutants from coffee cherry pulping wastewater (CCPWW) in an acidic pH without any manipulation of the effluent was studied. For the removal of such pollutants, the CCPWW was subjected to treatment with four indigenous microbial test strains isolated from CCPWW and characterised using 16S rRNA molecular technique, namely Enterobacter ludwigii, Bacilllus cereus, Enterobacter aerogenes and Enterobacter cloacae. Among the individual microbial treatments, the Enterobacter cloacae bacterial strain removed higher amount of TDS (37.6%) and COD (40.1%). Treatment with the bacterial consortia removed about 40.9% TDS, 48.7% COD from CCPWW after 48 h. The correlation coefficient ‘r’ between TDS and COD removal for each individual treatment was 1, showed the positive linear relationship. The microbes had endured in the harsh–low pH environment of the effluent and effectively removed the pollutants without any addition of other nutrient support.